The Longest War: Afghan People Face Fearful Future as American Troops Prepare to Exit the Ravaged Co

The Longest War: Afghan People Face Fearful Future as American Troops Prepare to Exit the Ravaged Country

By Kathy Kelly and Laura Flanders

Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, talks to Laura Flanders about the economic and social conditions in Afghanistan and what the US "departure" and a "light-footprint strategy" look like to Afghans.

The war in Afghanistan is America's longest war. It's also the most invisible. In eight hours of grilling of the man who would be the next Defense Secretary, the subject barely arose.

No Republican Senator had even one question on the topic for Chuck Hagel, even though, if confirmed, he would be responsible for winding up the US military presence there. And the few questions from Democrats weren't much better. Entirely focused on the fate of US troops, they ignored the fate of the people in the country the US invaded a decade ago.